AbstractCollection consists of .8 cubic feet of
records from the Director of the Goethe Link Observatory, spanning 1935-1941, primarily
concerning the construction of the observatory. The observatory was built by and named
after, Goethe Link, who received his M.D. from IU in 1902 and who was a prominent
thyroid surgeon in Indianapolis. The incumbent during this period was Victor E. Maier.
Included in the collection are financial ledgers, correspondence, as well as information
on construction materials and astronomy.

Administrative Information

Access RestrictionsThis collection is open for research.

Advance notice is required.

Acquisition InformationAccession 8006

Usage RestrictionsCopyright interests for this collection have been transferred to the Trustees of
Indiana University. For more information, contact the Indiana University
Archivist.

Administrative HistoryDr. Goethe Link (1879-1981) was born in Pike County, Indiana in 1879. Link began his
academic career at Wabash College, but later received his M.D. from Indiana
University in 1902. He was a founder of the Indiana University Medical School as well
as a prominent thyroid surgeon in Indianapolis.

Dr. Link had diverse interests that took him beyond the realm of medicine. In 1909 he
won the National Balloon Race, he conducted studies of hummingbirds and snakes, and,
in 1937 he began the construction of an observatory to aid in his study of
astronomy.

Dr. Link had his observatory built at Tanager Hill, near Brooklyn, Indiana, twenty
miles southwest of Indianapolis. The building housed a thirty-six inch telescope, as
well as research and housing facilities. Construction took two years, and in 1939 the
observatory housed one of the most accurately figured telescopic mirrors ever made at
that time.

The Goethe Link Observatory was donated to Indiana University in 1948 and was used
regularly by students and researchers until 1981. Today, the observatory is jointly
operated by Indiana University and the Indiana Astronomical Society, an amateur
astronomy group in central Indiana.

Scope and Content Note

This collection contains materials concerning the construction of Goethe Link’s
observatory, from 1937 until 1939, and records from subsequent years up to and including
1941. Included in the collection are financial ledgers, correspondence, as well as
information on construction materials and astronomy. Photographs have been removed and
added to the photographic collections in the Indiana University Archives.

This collection is divided into three series: series one consists of correspondence,
series two contains financial records and series three titled subject files contains
general files pertaining to the Link Observatory. All of the series are arranged in
alphabetical order.

Arrangement

Organized in three series: Correspondence, Financial records, and Subject files.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
IUCAT, the IU Libraries' online
catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by searching the
catalog using these terms.